Stakeholders Participation: Myth or...
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INSTITUTIONEN FÖR GEOVETENSKAPER Examensarbete i Hållbar Utveckling 35 Stakeholders Participation: Myth or Reality? A Case study of Community Water Supply Management in Bambui-Tubah Village in Cameroon Claude Chia Kiteh
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INSTITUTIONEN FÖR GEOVETENSKAPER
Examensarbete i Hållbar Utveckling 35
Stakeholders Participation: Myth or Reality?
A Case study of Community Water Supply Management in Bambui-Tubah Village in
Cameroon
Claude Chia Kiteh
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STAKEHOLDERS PARTICIPATION: MYTH OR REALITY?
A CASE STUDY OF COMMUNITY WATER SUPPLY
MANAGEMENT IN BAMBUI-TUBAH VILLAGE IN CAMEROON
(Picture: Spring water connected with leafs for easy harvest)
Master thesis in Sustainable Development
CLAUDE CHIA KITEH
Supervisor: Professor Nadarajah Sriskandarajah
Institutionen för geovetenskaper
Uppsala Universitet
2011
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Content
Acknowledgement ……………………………………………………………………………………………………4
Abstract …………………………………………………………………………………………………………….....5
Summary ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………...6
1 Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………………………………...7
1.1 Aim and scope of study …………………………………………………………………………………………10
1.2 Study area ………………………………………………………………………………………………………..11
2 Conceptual framework ………………………………………………………………………………………...18
2.1 Community Participation………………………………………………………………………………………...18
2.1.1 Forms of community participation………………………………………………………………………….20
2.2 Community Management ………………………………………………………………………………………..21
2.2.1 Community Management goals..……………………………………………………………………………22
2.2.2 Partnership in Community Management …………………………………………………………………...23
2.3 Decentralization …………………………………………………………………………………………………24
2.4 Literature study.....………….……………………………………………………………………………………25
2.4.1 Community Water Supply Management……………………………………………………………………27
2.4.2 Roles o f di f ferent support agencies in communi ty water supply………………….. . . . . . .30
2.4.3 European Union Water Ini t ia t ive………………………………………………… . . . . . . 3 5
3 Methods.…………………………………………………………………………………………………………38
3.1.1 Literature review.……………………………………………………………………………………………38
3.1.2 Interviews ………………………………………………………………………………………………......39
3.1.3 Observations ………………………………………………………………………………………………..39
3.1.4 Group discussion …………………………………………………………………………………………...40
3.2 Assessment of the current situation ……………………………………………………………………………..40
3.3 Data collection …………………………………………………………………………………………………..44
4 Research Findings and discussion …………………………………………………………………….............45
4.1.Description of Bambui water supply management ………………………………………………………………45
4.1.1 Roles and responsibilities of the various stakeholders ………………………………………………………....47
4.1.2 Operation and Maintenance …………………………………………………………………………………....52
4.1.3 Some of the main problems in the management of the scheme ………………………………………………..54
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4.2 Discussion ………………………………………………………………………………………………………..58
4.2.1 Participation as a goal and a reality in Bambui ………………………………………………………………...58
4.2.2 Enabling Institutions ……………………………………………………………………………………...........61
4.2.3 Decentralization as a governance mechanism ………………………………………………………………….63
4.2.2 Challenges for Sustainability …………………………………………………………………………………..64
4.2.5 Ways Forward ………………………………………………………………………………………………….65
5 Conclusion and Recommendations ………………………………………………………………………………67
6 References………………………………………………………………………………………………………….69
7 Appendices …………………………………………………………………………………………………..........73
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Figures
Figure 1: the stagnation cycle of challenges facing water in Africa ……………………………..…....................27
Figure 2: A model of interactions of Bambui water supply ……………………………………………………...47
Figure 3: Stakeholder representation in the management of Bambui water supply …………….......................52
Maps
Map 1: Map of Cameroon and North West region………………………………………………………………12
Map 2: Map of Tubah showing Bambui …………………………………………………………………………..13
Pictures
Picture 1: Abandon stand tap …………..………………………………………………………………………….40
Picture 2: Catchment area………………………………………………………………………………….............44
Picture 3: water management committee office …………………………………………………………………..50
Picture 4: stand tap carrying name of donor……………………………………………………………………...51
Picture 5: key informant checking tap not working ……………………………………………………………...54
Picture 6: illegal use of potable water for gardening …………………………………………………..................55
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Just want to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor:
Professor Nadarajah Sriskandarajah, I wouldn’t have done this
without his guidance. I am also grateful to my family for making it
possible for me to be here and also to the Swedish government
for allowing me to come and study here, and to our program
coordinator for being such a wonderful person. Also have to
acknowledge help from friends and classmates.
Just want to thank you guys for being so inspirational.
Claude C. Kiteh
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Stakeholder Participation: Myth or Reality? A Case study of Community Water Supply Management in Bambui-Tubah Village in Cameroon CLAUDE CHIA KITEH
KITEH, C.C., 2011: Stakeholder Participation: Myth or Reality? A Case study of Community Water Supply Management in Bambui-Tubah Village in Cameroon. Master thesis in Sustainable Development at department of Earth science Uppsala University, No XX, YY pp 30ECTS/hp. A b s t r a c t : T h e a i m o f t h i s s t u d y w a s t o m a k e a n a s s e s s m e n t o n r u r a l w a t e r s u p p l y m a n a g e m e n t w i t h p a r t i c u l a r f o c u s i n s u b - S a h a r a n A f r i c a n c o u n t r i e s b e c a u s e o f t h e w a t e r c r i s i s t h a t h a s p l a g u e d t h e m f o r d e c a d e s n o w . M o s t s u b -S a h a r a A f r i c a n c o u n t r i e s l a c k p o t a b l e w a t e r s u p p l y a s a r e s u l t o f m i s m a n a g e m e n t o f r e s o u r c e a n d / o r i n a d e q u a t e i n f r a s t r u c t u r e p r o v i d e d b y t h e i r g o v e r n m e n t s . T h e l a s t t w o d e c a d e s s a w t h e s t a g n a t i o n o f r u r a l w a t e r s u p p l y w i t h l o n g t e r m b r e a k d o w n o f m a n y i n f r a s t r u c t u r e s b e c a u s e o f l a c k o f t e c h n i c a l p e r s o n n e l a n d r e s o u r c e . T h e c o n c e p t o f p a r t i c i p a t i o n w a s w i d e l y i n t r o d u c e i n t h e e a r l y 1 9 7 0 s t o a d d r e s s t h i s i s s u e a s i t i s b e l i e v e d t h a t i n v o l v i n g p e o p l e h a v i n g p r o b l e m i n t h e p r o b l e m s o l v i n g m e c h a n i s m w i l l p r o v i d e b e t t e r r e s u l t s ( p a r t i c i p a t o r y a p p r o a c h ) . T h i s p a p e r f o c u s o n c o mm u n i t y i n v o l v e m e n t i n w a t e r s u p p l y a n d m a n a g e m e n t , w o r k i n g a l o n g s i d e w i t h o t h e r s t a k e h o l d e r s a n d s e e k s t o e v a l u a t e t h e l e v e l o f p a r t i c i p a t i o n o f t h e s t a k e h o l d e r s a n d t o s e e i f p a r t i c i p a t i o n i n r e a l i t y i s w o r k i n g i n s o l v i n g t h i s p r o b l e m . A c a s e s t u d y w a s d o n e a t B a m b u i - T u b a h i n C a m e r o o n , a s s e s s i n g t h e i n v o l v e m e n t o f t h e v a r i o u s s t a k e h o l d e r s i n t h e m a n a g e m e n t o f t h e i r w a t e r s c h e m e . T h i s w o r k w a s d o n e t h r o u g h l i t e r a t u r e , i n t e r v i e w s , d i s c u s s i o n a n d o b s e r v a t i o n s , a n d f r o m r e s u l t s g o t t e n f r o m f i e l d . I t w a s o b v i o u s t h a t t h e s u c c e s s o f t h e s c h e m e w h i c h h a s b e e n r u n n i n g f o r d e c a d e s n o w c a n b e a t t r i b u t e d t o t h e c o l l a b o r a t i v e a c t i o n s o f t h e v a r i o u s s t a k e h o l d e r s w o r k i n g t o g e t h e r . F r o m t h e s u r v e y i t w a s a p p a r e n t t h a t p a r t i c i p a t i o n i n r e a l i t y w a s i n s t r u m e n t a l f o r s u s t a i n a b i l i t y o f t h e s c h e m e w i t h d e c e n t r a l i z a t i o n b e i n g a k e y f a c t o r i n e n h a n c i n g t h i s p h e n o m e n o n . Key words: Participation, community, water-management, Sustainability .Claude Chia KITEH, Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University, Villavägen 16, SE- 752 36 Uppsala, Sweden.
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Stakeholder Participation: Myth or Reality?
A Case study of Community Water Supply Management in Bambui-Tubah Village in Cameroon CLAUDE CHIA KITEH
KITEH, C.C., 2011: Stakeholder Participation: Myth or Reality? A Case study of Community Water Supply Management in Bambui-Tubah Village in Cameroon. Master thesis in Sustainable Development at department of Earth science Uppsala University, No XX, YY pp 30ECTS/hp. Summary: It has generally been observe that many developing countries lack access to potable water and one
reason for this is not just because of shortage but because of mismanagement as well. This paper points out some of
the problems affecting sub-Sahara African countries when it comes to water supply management. Its starts by
pointing out what is being said at the international level with new reforms being put in place to address the issue and
actions taken to facilitate policy implementation in relation to water supply management. Because governments of
developing countries are unable to maintain supply of potable water in rural areas in particular in their countries,
Participation is introduce to help reduce the burden on government by involving government, private sector and
NGOs, as well as the civil society working together in addressing this issue.
In Bambui-Tubah village in Cameroon, the government, private sector and the local community members worked
hand in hand in the management of the scheme with government setting the legal framework, the private sector
providing technical aspects and the community is responsible for the daily running of the system through a
management committee representing the community. A bottom up approach is seen in this case where management
starts from the lowest level in the community then moves up the lather to higher level of the central government.
The different stakeholders had various roles to play; together their coordinated actions have been vital for
sustainability of the system. Participation is seen as a reality here as all stakeholders are involved in the management
of the Bambui water scheme putting their resources together for a common purpose.
Key words: Participation, community, water-management, Sustainability.
Claude Chia KITEH, Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University, Villavägen 16, SE- 752
36 Uppsala, Sweden.
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1: INTRODUCTION
The water crisis issue today is not just a matter of scarcity, but also a matter of
access. About 884 million people don’t have access to safe water supplies
(water.org). The majority of people in the world without improved water supply
services have remained practically the same over the past two decades
(IRC,2002). Most of these people are those living in peri-urban or rural areas
(WHO/UNICEF,2000). This is as a result of governments’ inability to supply
and manage the resource in these areas, mostly because of financial constraints
associated with the construction and management of systems as can be seen in
most developing countries (Jaglin,2002). Access to water of good quality is an
essential issue to all humans. At the global level, there is plenty of water
available (Focus, 2001) but meeting demand calls for supply where needed.
Water supply has been very challenging for poor countries as this involves
construction of systems which are very expensive and require expertise. Though
most governments in developing countries have been able to provide their rural
communities with potable water, by financing and implementing the
construction of systems, operations and maintenance has been a serious issue
because of lack of personnel to do repairs and maintenance leading to long term
break down of systems (Bolt et al,1995). Many countries are undertaking a
sector reform to address this issue in order to meet people’s needs with reliable
water supply services (IRC,2002). This has led to some coordinated structural
changes to provide water in accordance with Principle Number two of the
Dublin Statement of Water and Sustainable Development; Water Development
and running should be based on a part icipatory approach, involving planners,
users and policy-makers at all stages (Dublin,1992). Such a sector reform
involves decentralization, private sector participation and community
management. This is to encourage rural communities to manage their water
supply schemes with support from the government as it is believe that effective
community management leads to sustainability of system.
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Rural communities in Cameroon have over the years been struggling with
alternative water supply systems, coming up with initiatives to build up their
water supply systems. Some of such initiatives have been successful as they get
grants from international organizations and institutions (such as European
Union-EU, World Bank, local Embassies, Non-Governmental Organizations-
NGOs) which have enabled them to carry out small community projects to
construct their water infrastructure and rural water supply. Helvetas ( Swiss
Association for Development and Cooperation) together with Community
Development Department (CDD) in the Ministry of Agriculture and some local
NGOs have built 350 rural water systems and 150 water points in the North
west, South west and West regions in Cameroon helping over 1.2 million rural
people supplying them with potable water (Vubo,2008). These organizations and
institutions are facil itators of the project as they plan, design, implement and
monitor maintenance through committees which are responsible for managing
the schemes. The communities are most often engaged in the management of the
supply systems at different levels as they participate through contributions
either in cash or kind coordinated by members of the community, and also take
part in decision making (Strasser,2000).
It has been observed in many developing countries that success of rural water
supply systems is as a result of full commitment and involvement of users (Bolt
et al). Most often government agencies do not dispose enough staff, budgets and
transport to provide the required services for continues running of the systems.
Through capacity building, services and benefits can continue to operate after
external support (financial, managerial and technical) has been stopped (Haddad
et al ,2007) and with management handled by users. Sustainability can be
achieved when equity, accountability and transparency are put in place by using
key aspects such as social justice, self-reliance and empowerment of the local
people (Haddad et al ,2007). Local part icipation has proven to be a powerful tool
as it engages the various stakeholders in different responsibilities, as a result
active involvement in the management process. Combined experience,
knowledge and understanding of the different local people and groups have been
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vital for the bottom-up management approach which most government experts
and private sector are now implementing as management alternative (Haddad et
al,2007).
Water is a state property in Cameroon and the state is responsible for protecting
and managing the resource as well as making it accessible to the people.
Cameroon has abundant freshwater resources, but most part of the population
suffers from poor water management and not water scarcity (GWP,2005). 44%
of the country’s population had access to portable water according to the UNDP
report of 2003 and of this 70% is in the urban area while 25% is in the rural
area. In 2006 another report from WHO/UNICEF showed an increase to 70% of
the population in Cameroon that has access to portable water and of this 88% in
the urban centers and 47% in the rural areas. The state has invested mostly in
urban supply systems and li ttle or no network systems exist in rural areas. As
such there is the problem of lack of adequate rural water supply in rural areas in
Cameroon. Due to economic situation of Cameroon, funds to manage rural water
supplies systems are insufficient; this has seen many communities go without
improved water supply systems or broken systems. As such, many communities
have taken up the initiative of managing their system with support from
government and other agenc i e s .
Since participation has been highly recommended by most international
organizations in development projects because of failure of such projects in
developing countries, and taking into consideration the fact that participation
has been implemented in some of these projects, this left me with the following
research question; How are the participatory measures defined in such
projects and how is the implementation coordinated and organized? This
thesis seeks to evaluate participation as a tool in enhancing such projects in
Cameroon. This is done with the following assumption as basis for evaluation:
• Stakeholder participation is insufficient
• Stakeholder representation was weak
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• Stakeholder power relations were characterized by dominance from the already
empowered group of stakeholders.
1.1 Aim and scope of study
The basis of this study is to carry out an assessment of community water supply
management in Bambui-Tubah, Cameroon were participation has been
implemented. This assessment is to investigate if community water management
is satisfactory and sustainable for the rural community. If community
management proves to be unsatisfactory, then the reasons for this will be
investigated and solutions for progress will be recommended. Such
recommendations will be done on the basis of sustainability taking into account
the economic and social aspects.
This study is based on the following research questions:
• Is delegation of responsibility clearly stated and backed by any legal
arrangement?
• Does community have adequate information on management tasks
delegated to them?
• Does community have access to managerial and technical support , and
how do they deal with conflicts?
These questions were discussed in the course of interviews carried out during
the study in the study area as well as observations made, which were done in a
period of a month. A literature study was also undertaken in relation to this for
triangulation.
The overall aim of this study was to understand the trends of community
participation in Community Water Management in Bmbui-Tubah North West
Region of Cameroon. The objective is to:
• To examine the structure of stakeholder representation
• To assess the level of participation.
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• To examine the dynamics of power amongst the various stakeholders
1.2 Study area
1.3.1 CAMEROON
Cameroon is located in the central part of Africa. It is bounded by Nigeria in
the Northwest and Chad in the Northeast . To the Southeast it is bounded by the
Central African Republic and to the South by Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, the
Republic of Congo and the Gulf of Guinea to the Southwest. It covers an area of
475,000 sq km with a population of 19,406,100. It has 250 ethnic groups
comprising of Christ ians, Muslims, and indigenous people (Africans Bureau of
African affair,2010). Cameroon is gifted with a lot of natural resources
including agricultural and oil resources which make up the primary economic
commodities. Just like other African countries, there is high rate of corruption,
slow economic growth, and little access to sanitation and water facilities not
forgetting poverty.
1.3.2 BAMBUI-TUBAH
1.3.2.1 GEOGRAPHY
Tubah is a sub division with a substantial surface area in the North West region of Cameroon. It covers four villages: Kedjom Keku, Kedjom Ketinguh, Bambui and Bambili. The area is inhabited by a population of about sixty eight thousand (68,000) people.
There are more female in this area to male with a 51% - 49% respectively. The
area suffers a rural exodus with population drop between ages of 25 – 46years
moving to the ci ty. 49% of the population is made up of farmers. Most of the
inhabitants settle on the hill according to their history, it is only with time that
most of them have move down to the plains reason being search for fertile land
(Helvetas,2001).
Bambui is located in the North West region of Cameroon, between longitudes
57’ and 10018’E, and latitude 5040’ and 5058’N. It is situated between many sub
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divisions having many boundaries, thus likely source of conflicts. Bambui is the
administrative head quarters of Tubah sub division with a population of about
16,000 inhabitance (Helvetas,2001)
Map 1: Map of Cameroon showing the North west region and
map of North West region showing Tubah Sub division.
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Source : (Helvetas,2001)
Figure 2: Map of Tubah Subdivision showing the study area Bambui
Map of Tubah
showing study
area Bambui
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Source: (Kum,2010)
Climate
Tubah has diverse climates within its geological area, known with its
topography of plains and hills. Bambui has a high temperature which lies in the
plain stretches to Bafut, Bambili while the hilly areas of Kedjum Keku is
generally cold including Sabga and the upper plateaus of Kedjom Ketinguh. The
climate variation fits into two seasons in the area; the dry and rainy seasons.
The area experiences the tropical highland climate in general. The rainy season
stretch from March to October and is characterized with heavy rain falls brought
in by the Southwest Monsoon winds. Places are generally wet during this period
and temperatures are relatively warm. The dry season begins from November to
Febuary and is driven by the Northeast Trade winds and/or Hamattan. It is
characterize with strong sun shine during the day and very cold nights. There is
lot of dust during the dry season that covers the road which in turn produces lots
of mud in the rainy season. (Helvetas,2001)
Cool and misty zone: 1250m – 2250m Elevation
Temperature: the mean minimum temperature ranges from 130C – 140C and the
mean maximum temperature ranges from 200C – 220C. November records lowest
mean minimum temperature and the highest mean maximum are recorded in
December. During January or February, ground may frost due to cold which
drains in the narrow valleys in the night (Hawkins and Brunt, 1965).
Rainfall: rainfall varies from1780mm to 2290 mm per year. Heavy rain fall are
usually experienced in the months July to September. There is high humidity
during the months of July and August , and low in January and February. There
occur low clouds and mists during the rainy season (Hawkins and Brunt,1965).
Soils
The soil is very much fert ile, with lots of agricultural activit ies taking place in
the area. The soil fertility is as a result of humus, which is a dark volcanic soil
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from the uplands/hil ly areas. There is a bit of sandy soil that has been washed
down from the hil ls and deposited on river banks or beds of streams
(Helvetas,2001).
Drainage
The main source of water and/or streams that flows down to Bambui is from the
Lake Bambili. These streams are devoid of fish and even tadpoles are scarce.
The streams that run from lake Bambili includes: Ntse-Ni, Ntse-Nkwa, Ntse-
Legel and Ntse-Nta all of which simple reduce in volume during the dry season.
The main stream in Bambui is the Chaniyeli stream which flows through the
village. There is another stream; Fuwong which marks the boundary between
Bambui and Kedjom Keku (Helvetas,2001).
Vegetation
Tubah is located in the belt where the environment is rich with grass as a result
of the fairly rich soil in the area. A good portion of it is covered with few forest
patches with lots of Eucalyptus trees. The grass quickly dries up during the dry
season and not edible to animals. The dry and rainy seasons have huge influence
on agriculture and on the vegetation as everything dries up during the dry
season and turns green during the rainy season. Eucalyptus lies mostly in the
low lying plains while woody valley and natural forest exist in the watershed
area (Helvetas,2001).
Relief
Tubah comprise of undulating hills with a large plain at Bambui. The hil ls are
broken by woody valleys and interlocking spurs. The main hills in the Tubah
area are: Ngu’bi, Nguh Aseh, Nguh Mbonyam, Munduba, Vumih and Mbi. The
hills provide a good watershed for the area; the Tubah council has been working
on plans to protect and exploit the watershed area. Several rivers and streams
flow from the watershed through the Bambui village to the council area.
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1.3.2.2 ECONOMY
Agriculture is the main occupation of the people in Tubah and to an extend
animal husbandry. There are no industries in the area apart from small bakeries,
sales of local liquor and basic commodities. Agriculture in the area is mostly on
small scale thus farmers are responsible for the labor themselves. The cattle
owners most often hire cowboys to tend their ships and cows. There are small
live stocks at home tended by children. The only employment possibilities are
limited to a few that can be employ in the small businesses with very minimal
pay. This involves community hiring private enterprise or contractors to carry
out specific tasks such as supplying materials. There are some private schools as
well as government schools bringing in teachers and civil servants as well as
missionary bodies. Self employment is hindered by lack of funds and land thus
reason for massive rural exodus in the area.
The public sector has influence on the economy as the bring in researchers and
workers, civil servants and state agents serving the ministerial services
(Helvetas,2001)
1.3.2.3 ADMINISTRATION
The Sub divisional officer is the highest administrative authority in the area; he
directly oversees the functioning of all government services within the area.
Among other duties, he is the chairperson of the land consultative board where
land disputes are handled. He represents the government of Cameroon in that
area. The rural council is the arm of government in the area which is headed by
the mayor who is elected by the villagers, unlike the Sub divisional officer who
is appointed. The council runs civil status registry and participates in health and
sanitat ion related issues as well as education, tradition and cultural issues and
also implements development projects. The Kwifor is the traditional government
of the village who has all the legislat ive and executive power when it comes to
tradition and culture. The Fon (king) is the spiritual leader of the village and is
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considered as father of all. The Fon together with the Kwifor form the village
council which is the administrative unit of the village.
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2 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
This chapter focuses on the concepts which I used in answering the research
questions with much focus on the background of the problem.
2.1 Community Participation
Because of widespread failure of many developmental projects in Africa and
some developing countries in the 1960s and 70s, there was need for a re-
assessment of approach for implementation of such projects with critical
examination of success factors (Wilson,1993). Many reasons have been
suggested for this phenomenon; possibly the most important has been lack of
sufficient involvement of the communities in planning, implementation and the
administrative phase (Asuming,2001). This has seen the utilization of non-
professionals in development projects so as to address the social problems
associated with such projects.
Part icipation often depends on the nature and context of project (World Bank
Report ,1987). In the perspective of development, community participation can
be seen as an active process whereby beneficiaries of the project directly
influence and execute the development of the project rather than just sharing
benefits of the project (World Bank Report,1987). Community participation is
the involvement of people in the community in solving community problems.
Community participation can also be said to have occurred when the community
was the primary investor, the primary decision-maker, the main organizer, the
primary maintainer and the main overseer in the implementation of its project
(Briscoe and Ferranti,1985). Like Sidorenko puts it; community participation is
merely a process of taking part in diverse spheres of societal life: economic,
political, social, cultural and others (Sidorenk,2006).
Participation takes different forms which can either be direct, representational ,
political through elections and information-based (Sidorenko,2006). The
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Thekwini Municipali ty publication in 2006, points out some five strategic goals
for community participation which states that community participation is:
- To affect a behavioral change by creating an atmosphere where both
elected representatives and administration work together with the
community
- To ensure that doors of administration and political structure are open to
all members in the community
- To create a mechanism, procedure and processes that wil l facilitate the
smooth running of community activit ies
- To instill a positive user care habit and promoting consumer
responsibility among users
- To establish a support program for community members to mobilize, take
action and develop their community.
This takes place during different activities in a project cycle such as:
• Planning – formulating goals, objectives and plans
• Needs assessment – negotiations, priori t izing, and opinion expression on
desirable improvement.
• Mobilization – creating awareness about community needs, establishing
and supporting structures
• Training – formal and informal trainings for construction,
communication, financial management and maintenance skills
• Implementing – engaging in activities; construction, operation and
maintenance as well as contributions
• Monitoring and evaluation – participate in work appraisals, see
improvements and redefine needs.
It is assumed that community can play a big role than government and donor
agencies in projects especially when it comes to rural water supplies because it
is believed that local organizations and institutions can better construct and
sustain supplies (Kleemeier,2000).
20
2.1.1 Forms of community participation
Community participation can be seen in different forms. The following forms
highlight some of the part icipatory features of a rural water supply scheme in
Malawi (Kleemeier,2000).
v Consultation – getting community opinion to meet community needs through
consultation with community leaders or representatives with all sections of
community
v Cost sharing – collection of cash within community as contributions for
projects implementation and management. Such contributions indicate that
the service is valued and that the community is committed.
v A contractual arrangement – community participation involves formulation
of contract that is documented with details of rules and responsibilities of the
various stakeholders in the design and implementation process. The
stakeholders include NGOs, Government, communities and others. Through
the support of community leaders, community projects can be legitimize with
the local management body being organized and put in place having the
required capacity or knowledge to carry out functions. Such capacity for
management is most often past to the locals by external agencies through
training programs.
v Decision-making – through participatory community education, genuine
support and commitment is achieved by involving all community members in
decision making. This will benefit community for long term sustainability
and increase use of service.
v Cheap labor – cheap labor refers to contribution locals make through
community works were groups, families and individuals contribute their
labor. This is most often unskilled labor such as clearing grass, digging,
carrying materials etc.
21
To conclude participation have been seen as a tool to facilitate management to
enhance sustainability
2.2 Community Management
Community Management is similar to community participation but involves
more than just participation. Community management came as a result of the old
centralized system not being sustainable because the capacity of government
was limited in carrying out functions in most communities (IRC,2002). For
systems to function well and sustainably, communities have to deal with some
things themselves. Community management is a new form of teamwork between
support groups and the community (Lammerink et al,2000). It is seen as a means
of improving reliabili ty, increasing cost effectiveness and ensuring
sustainabil ity by putting the larger portion of responsibility of maintenance and
operations of systems in the hands of community members themselves/users
(Lammerink and Bolt,2002). Through community management, communities get
control over their systems and make decisions in line with the organization of
the management. Such management takes into account community groups of
conflicting interest and ideas thus making the decision body ideally
representative group of the whole community often refer to as management
committee.
Community management does not necessarily means community is responsible
for and is in charge of their system, and have to do everything themselves. They
can also involve other private sector by agreement for operations and
maintenance tasks but in which case community will take decision for whom to
give contract to. Community management stresses on community responsibility,
authority and control over system which are al l important factors of
sustainabil ity (Hansen,1993). These three basic components in community
management are being defined by McCommon et al of the WASH technical
report No67:
22
• Responsibility – community takes ownership and obligations of the
systems. Community responsibilit ies includes: maintenance and repairs,
regulating usage, organizing local management and financing.
• Authority – community has the lawful right to make decisions concerning
the system with regards to its users. Such decisions includes: choice of
technology, service level , form of local organization, regulations for
usage and financial mechanisms.
• Control – community decides its outcome and carries out decisions
2.2.1Community management goals
It aims at three main goals (IRC,2004):
v Empowerment – community management enhance empowerment and self
improvement as seen by many organizations. Community management is
often seen as entry points to capacity building.
v Efficiency – community management increases service delivery
v Sustainability – control over system confers power and interest with its
corresponding benefits which encourages continuity of service over long
periods.
Community management often work in partnership with external agencies, such
that they both provide resources that can be used in the most effective manner to
develop rel iable and sustainable systems. Such partnerships involve the central
agencies who focus its resources on activities that benefits shared efforts and
the local resource which is in control by the locals. Community management
aims at strengthening the community’s capabili ty so as to find out and endorse
community’s interest. It maintains control on development and running of
systems by community themselves and for such goals to be at tained it requires
community to be trained and empowered so as to take on i ts role in
collaboration with its partners.
23
2.2.2 Partnership in Community management
Community management does not means community does everything by
themselves, effective community management involves partnership with
agencies (IRC,1993). Resources for community management are put together
from those within community, from other communities and from different
external agencies thus creating a partnership. Such partners include:
The community
Community comprise of various parts and people with different ethnics groups,
rel igions, socio-economic and gender base who have different capacities and
desire when it comes to management. Community’s need often determines its
willingness to contribute to resource management and improvement of its
systems.
Other Communities
Communities often see successful management approach from neighboring
communities and try to follow same; they thus tend to share knowledge with
such communities through an inter-community networking.
Agencies
Agencies include government agencies, NGOs and the private sector. Most often
community works with government agencies as it is government responsibility
to enhance development. For community management to work properly, agencies
requires to make organizational and att itudinal changes to create a balance
between the experienced community workers and technical agency staffs.
Agency role is often seen in raising awareness, providing support (technical ,
financial and material and staff) from training to planning and implementation
to projects in responding to community needs.
24
NGOs
NGOs often act as facilitators in most development projects in communities and
as such build natural partnership in community management in terms of
management activities. They help to facilitate the outreach ability of the
community to donor and government.
The Private sector
Constructing and repairs. In some cases private sector can be hired to manage
the entire system with decisions taken by the community.
The Government
Government role is largely seen in its control over policy making and resource
management. Agenda 21 stipulate government commitment including
administration support for community management. Government through its
legislation encourages communities to take care of their systems by given them
authority through supporting policies.
Donor agencies
Community projects are highly dependent on external support as many projects
requires huge sum of capital for construction of systems. Changes are often
made to convince donor agencies for effective partnership.
2.3 Decentralization
Decentralization is a sector reform which came as a result of the need to take
over rigorous limitations of central planning and management because of
improper services and lack of support to the local communities (Baumann,2000).
Implementing decentralization has an impact on water sector as necessary
support services are being put in place to facilitate sustainable water supply
(Baumann,2000).
25
Decentralization as described by Merriam-Webster: is the distribution or
dispersion of power and function from a central authority to a regional and local
authority. Decentralization has led to reduce concentration of power, authority
and resources at the level of the central government. This has further led to a
closer contact between communities and their local government and a better
representation of the different rel igious, ethnic, political and tribal groups in
decision-making process as there is increase exchange of information within
localities. Through decentralization, there has also been the transfer of
responsibility and/or activities to the local people/government, communities,
private sector as well as NGOs. Some of these responsibil ities can be difficult
for some of the part ies to handle and usually need support from other
organizations.
Two kind of decentralization are look at in this case:
1. Administrat ive decentralization or deconcentration: This is the spreading
of government representative from higher level to lower grounds and
transfer of tasks formerly carried out by government agents to private
sector or NGOs at the community or lower level (Baumann,2000).
2. Democratic decentralization or devolution: this refers to the dispersal of
resources and power from the higher authority to the lower authority
which is intended to be independent wholly from the higher authority and
democratized to some degree (Baumann,2000).
Decentralization is intended to increase operational , financial, managerial
and technical responsibilities at the local level which was not likely for the
local communities and local government handled with their given capacity.
2.4 Literature study
In spite billions of investment in rural water supply in the world, the world’s
poorest people still lack reliable water supply systems (Triple-S briefing,2009).
Many communities that have been provided with community water have been
observed with systems not working properly or broken down because of poor
26
management (Triple-S briefing,2009). Over one billion people in the earth today
do not have access to potable drinking water (Stewart and Gray,2009). In sub-
Saharan Africa, in spite of investment of over $1.2 to $1.5 bill ion in the last two
decades, there have still been fai lures in water systems with an overall 36%
average rate of non functioning hand pumps (Rural Water Supply
Network,2007). For all installed hand pumps for example in Sub-Saharan
African countries, only two of three hand pumps installed are functional at any
given time (RWSN,2009).
In Cameroon, out of the 7.7 million people living in the rural areas, just 41% is
estimated to have water supply networks of which 25% experiences non
functional supply systems (Harvey UNICEF Zambia,2007).
Many approach for rural water supply have been introduced over the past three
decades starting from the 1980s with the UN’s International Decade for Water
supply and Sanitation with much focus on ownership, decision-making and
participation. Over the years, further innovative approaches have been
introduced such as the public-private sector participation in providing support to
communities in managing their systems after construction. Also experiences
from past managements have emerged as a vital tool for further approach to be
considered. Most governments have given low priorities to this sector because
sufficient cost recovery is almost impossible as services are delivered to the
poor (World Bank,2005).
27
Figure 1: The stagnation cycle of challenges facing water in
Africa
Source: designed from; International Journal of Water Resources
Development 2006.
Many works have been carried out to understand the complexity of this situation
in order to provide solutions needed to address this issue. In this section I will
try to identify some key aspect of community water supply management and how
it is being implemented with regards to its benefits amongst others.
2.4.1 Community Water Supply Management
Community water supply is a form of cooperation between communities and
support agencies (both private and government agencies) involved in the water
sector (Lammerink et al,2001). It is aimed at identifying the problems
associated with water supply and management , and look for possible solutions in
addressing these issues for sustainabil ity of the supply systems (Lammerink et
al,2001). This has very much evolved over the past decades in developing
countries because of weak governance in water institutions as well as
mismanagement (Grindle,2002). As such governments in most of these countries
including Cameroon have realized that the centralized system is no longer
rel iable in this sector in supplying the local communities with potable water,
28
they have thus engaged in the decentralized system acting as facilitators rather
than just providers and encouraging communities to develop and/or manage their
water systems through policy reforms (Fuest,2006).
Community water supply in most developing countries is being donated by
external funds from national and international agencies like the World Bank,
international NGOs as well as government in most countries as a means
alleviating poverty. They provide the necessary fund for the construction of
structures to provide potable water to small rural communities lacking such
facili ties. Through part icipation, these rural communities tend to manage their
water supply networks for sustainability, cost effectiveness and efficiency in
their water supply development.
It has been observed recently that communities are no longer inactive
beneficiaries of technical goods, but they have also become active participants
in development projects as well; as seen in cooperation as partners and owners
in development projects within communities in many developing countries
(Lammerink et al,2001). This can be seen in terms of participation at different
levels in the community by the community members as they share range of
activities with a collective goal (Lammerink and Bolt ,2002).
Community water supply management can be seen in three al ternative
development approaches as stated by Davis et al 1993:
Ø Agency developed - Agency managed; this approach is quite similar to
that of government where the agency is responsible for developing the
system and takes care of O&M activities. In this case the community may
or may not pay for services rendered to them.
Ø Agency/community developed – Agency/Community managed; here the
community and the agency work together in developing and managing the
system. O&M maybe shared between the two parties as long as the agency
is willing and able to continue to support the community.
29
Ø Community developed – Community managed; the community develops
and manages its supply by themselves. This involves mostly the
traditional systems like water holes, dug wells and springs.
Each of the approaches above has its own difficulties. As for the first, it may
supply enough water needed by the community but how long this will last
depends on the water agency as the community might not be able to manage the
supply network. The third approach will certainly not provide enough water
needed by the community and the water will not be very pure or polluted and
harvesting water can be a problem.
However all three approaches encounter problems as new problems arise in
trying to solve one (Davis et al,1993). But most prominent is the failure of
operations and maintenance which may leave communities with broken systems.
It has been generally observed that management should be left with the
communities because of rel iability of community members for long term
sustainabil ity than agency staff as has been seen in problems associated with
government staff in managing water supplies in rural areas (Davis et al,1993).
For communities to be independent from external support for O&M, they have to
take larger share of responsibility for the supply and management of the network
system. There has been transfer of technology in many communities which has
been seen in the process of experience sharing and information sharing between
agencies and communities (Visscher,1997).
Benefits of improved water supply
Benefits are highly important for support agencies as this is a good reason to
justify need for such investment to the public. It is also good for users as well if
they get access to, which is very vital to their daily lives. Water in general is
necessary for improving of quality of life. Most often benefits in water supply
can be difficult to measure especially when the user contributes financially in
the supply of water. Two benefits of an improved water supply system are
highly recognized:
30
1. Health benefits: most infectious diseases in Africa and other developing
countries are connected to water in one way or the other as water provides
a medium in which they can be transmitted to humans. Such diseases can
be reduced by hygienic conditions and use of water. Water supply stresses
good hygienic condit ions as well as effective sanitation in addition to safe
drinking water (Davis et al, 1993).
2. Social and economical benefits: water supply will include reduction in
time for water collections from distant streams as well as reduction in
effort spend in collection of water. Bring water closer reduces workload
and improves availability in the community. Increasing quantity of water
available can improve productivity especially in small scale gardening
and also in small community industries.
In general water supply is aimed at:
- Improving access to water
- Increasing availabil i ty in terms of quantity
- Improving quality of water
- Changing hygiene behavior
- Improving sanitation
2.4.2 Roles of different support agencies in community water
supply
In this section, I will talk of community water in Cameroon base on a review
from a report by IRC in 1997 amongst 6 other countries on Water supplies
Managed by rural Communities.
The situation in Cameroon : The government
The Government of Cameroon is responsible for supplying drinking water to the
whole country through the ministry of mines and water, the rural engineering
department and the Community Development Department (CDD). The urban
31
centers are being supplied by a private company whose supply system is limited
to urban and peri-urban centers while rural communities are being encouraged to
develop and manage their system, with the Government encouraging foreign
organizations to help provide rural communities with potable water. Because of
fai lure and abandonment of rural water supply networks, the Government came
up with some guidelines to regulate the situation for rehabilitation of these
broken systems and for the continued existence of other reliable rural water
supply system. These guidelines include:
ü Any project by CDD or international organization that was init iated by the
community will continue to be managed by the community with assistance
from these agencies
ü Completed projects shall be reorganized so that locals should become
responsible for O&M
ü For any project to be carried out in the community, the people in the
community shall contribute a sum of about $300 to make sure maintenance
of system is secure
ü The local people shall contribute in the realization of project through
funding, labor and other means appropriate
ü Systems with big equipments shall see the locals pay for the upkeep of
these machines as need be
ü On completion of project, community will own the system and not the
Government
ü Training of water operators to guarantee functioning of systems
ü Serious breakdown of system shall be repair by the regional service and
will be paid by the community
ü The Government through the ministry of mines, water and power shall
decide what systems are better for a particular community
ü Sensitization and education of locals for maintenance of systems
From the above policies, it is clear that the Government is in favor of
community taking part in the rural water supplies by involving the people in
32
management and planning for success of project and sustainabil ity and
implementing these policies is an indication of i ts commitment and involvement
in the management.
SCANWATER
This is a Danish company that was commissioned to build water stations in the
80s in Cameroon which continued till 1992 where 335 water systems were
constructed and set up by this company in medium seize rural communities and
peri-urban centers. SCANWATER had to use its own workers in bringing
potable water to villages. After construction of systems, they organize and train
operators before handing the project over to the Government, after which they
move to the next area for another construction. Because of failure of this
approach, local population are now trained to take care of system since the
government personnel that were trained did not last in the villages. Also because
of increasing number of systems being installed, they was then need to increase
staff to take care of O&M which led to failure of many systems. The new policy
by the government gives power to the population to manage their water supply
through management committees.
CIACC
Cameroon Industrial and Civic Contractors (CIACC) is a construction company
which receives managerial and technical support from Netherlands in
constructing rural water systems. It takes the same approach l ike SCANWATER;
constructing systems with its technicians and engineers, t rain operators to take
care of O&M before handing over the project to the government. CIACC did not
involve community members in the projects, until the systems were reorganized
to involve community members in the projects when too many systems had
broken down.
33
Rural Engineering Department
Because of failure of SCANWATER and CIACC, rural engineering department
was commissioned together with CDD to build and manage the supply of
drinking water in rural areas. This project was sponsored by the government and
beneficiaries were not allowed to participate. In no time most of the
installations were non-operational because of lack of funds and no participation
of the vil lagers.
CARE international
Cooperation of American Relief Everywhere (CARE) is a non-profit making
organization working for development especially with development at village
level with environment, health, water supply, conservation and agriculture.
CARE has constructed many hand pumps in rural areas in Cameroon and mostly
in areas that are able to fulfi ll its requirement for assistance. For CARE to assist
a development project, the village has to:
- Apply to CARE
- Pay the sum of about $300 to CARE after field work
- Have a bank account with at least $50 for maintenance
- Readiness to contribute labor in digging well
- Provision of construction material if available l ike sand and gravel
- Fencing of catchment area or well for protection
- Frequent testing of water quality
- Formation of management committee
- Contribute in cash and kind
In return CARE:
- Takes care of construction and installation
- Trains operators
34
- Supervise and finance the monitoring and handing over the project to
community and evaluates effort put in by community in sustaining the
system
- Educate users about water quality
SATA-HELVETAS: partnership
The Swiss Association for Technical Assistance (SATA-HELVETAS) came to
Cameroon to support rural communities in self-help efforts as a means to
encourage community initiatives. They establish a partnership in Cameroon with
the Cameroon Government and open centers for training technical personnel for
different jobs such as mason, caretaker, technicians, building contractors and
supervisors for sustainability purpose. They worked with communities that:
- Have urgent needs
- Villages/communities that make considerable contribution in cash and
kind
- Projects concerning the whole population in the village
- Project in disadvantaged area and remote areas
- Village respecting the environment and are able to maintain supply
systems
For vil lage to be qualified for assistance from HELVETAS, they have to meet
the following conditions;
- Contribute 30% of investment the in cash or kind
- In case where system need extension, village has to contribute 40%
- Be able to maintain system 100% financially on completion
- Be able to contribute 50% for extensive repairs
Community Development Department
CDD work in partnership with Helvetas and provide the following services:
1. Technical services to rural communities for construction work
35
2. Women and training services that assist in education, sensitization and
mobilization of the community in self-help projects.
2.4.3 European Union Water Initiative
The European Union Water Init iative (EUWI) was designed to help facilitate
actions needed in implementing water policies so as to contribute in catching up
with the MDGs for water and hygiene in context of integrated water resource
management approach (www.euwi.net). EU provides the largest assistance in
overseas development in water-related issues in the world (Stewart and Gray,
2009). EUWI is aimed at mobilizing and coordinating partners from
governments, donors to industries, civil society corporations and water users in
Europe and partner countries to achieve MDGs by 2015 in water-related issues
through part icipation (www.euwi.net). EUWI provides a strategic platform for
partnership with the following objectives as revealed from EU 2002 report the
Johannesburg summit:
- Reinforce commitment and poli tical will
- Encourage water Governance with stakeholder participation
- Promote coordination and cooperation
- Identify other financial mechanisms and resources
- Improve water management
In a broader sense, EUWIs’ whole idea is centered around coordination as stated
by Stewart and Gray: “. . . we need to coordinate and organize the participation
of everybody more efficiently…”, that for people to work together, they need to
share financial methodologies as well as working methodologies (Stewart and
Gray,2009).
The EUWI code of conduct emphasis on a tripart ite partnership: Government,
water providers and civil society (EUWI,2005)
1. Government should be committed to improve on Governance, policy,
public knowledge, institutional capacity, awareness, education, access to
36
sustainable water and sanitation, financial resources mobilization,
improving management and contribute to reduce poverty.
2. Water providers, both private and public are highly regarded as partners
by EUWI because of their technical, managerial and practical knowledge
not forgetting their involvements in planning and O&M.
3. Civil society is seen as advocates to society, they are highly involve in
capacity building, improving community organization, mentorship,
provide skill through in service delivery and they mobilize resources at
the local level . They provide feedback to the higher authority about the
locals on needs, community integration, perspectives and empowerment
actions Stewart and Gray (2009).
EUWI members as revealed by the EUWI website and EU 2002 include: member
states of EU; European authorities, European commission, other European
institutions, international regimes, six European water companies in the private
sector and technical experts as well as international development and financial
institutions. Also civil society organizations and international water
organizations are also involved. At the regional level, EUWI membership
includes 53 African governments, Latin American Environmental ministries,
Mediterranean governments as well as national government of individual
countries that are partners (www.euwi.net). Regional partners also include
NGOs and experts where projects have been carried out (Stewart and
Gray,2009). The key elements of EUWI according to the Council of the
European Union 2002 include:
- Capacity building and institution building, raising awareness and
promotion of stakeholder involvement
- Providing expertise and encourage sharing of technology and knowledge
through partnership
- And to develop regional cooperation
According to information revealed by the council of EU on; “Draft resolution on
water management in developing countries: policy and priorities for EU
37
development cooperation”, priori ties for actions were to promote and support
activities that will lead to:
- Raising awareness of stakeholder on importance of water
- Encourage participation to ensure policy implementation for ownership
- Strengthen institutional and capacity building for water governance and
fight corruption
- Put an economic value to water through regulations, legislations and
institutional arrangement to reduce water misuse
- Financial sustainability for resource management by pricing water
services
- Knowledge expansion on water issues such as policy issues, technology
and management systems.
To sum up rural water supply management has been a major problem for a while
now and searching the appropriate technology to solve this issue is being
address at the global stage with common interest for poverty alleviation and
sustainabil ity. Participation is highly recommended to manage water schemes
that have been constructed with help from community, government and enabling
institutions.
38
3 Methods
Based on the qualitative nature of this study, the methods used include
interviews of some key persons and focus groups, discussions, observations, and
literature review. The vil lage was so big with a population of over 16000 people
which was difficult for me to sample. But interestingly, they had four water
management committees supplying four different parts of the village. As such I
then divided the village into these four parts with regards to their supply
systems. Unfortunately, one system was not operational because i t was still at
the initiation stage, so I worked with just three systems manage by three water
management committees supplying the various communities. Interviews were
semi-structured both with individuals and groups of people. This was because
they had different understanding of the systems and different ideas of the
various interviewees and in different situations. I used some guiding questions
from which new questions came up in the course of the interview. A checklist
was used as to questions for subsequent interviews. Observations were done by
moving around the water network, discussions with community members and the
different stakeholders, observing water fetching activities and behavior of
community members and local councils and their interactions as well as visiting
some local offices.
3.1.1Literature review
A broad range of literature was read from journals, books, websites, reports
from; seminar, meeting, conferences and studies and many more. This gave me a
comprehensive understanding on how the planning and implementation of
community water supply is being done and also from the experience of others
how this topic can further be addressed. Literature review gave me a broad
picture of the topic, as to where such projects are being carried out and the
reasons for implementing it in these areas. Furthermore, literature review was
vital for grasping theories used for this study which has provided the bases for
some arguments to be raised in the course of this study.
39
3.1.2 Interviews
Field work was very much based on interviews. In total 52 people were
interviewed in the village. This involved all the key stakeholders. Key
informants interviewed were those that have been highly involved in the project
through active participation since the initiation of the project to its realization
as well as those that have be participating in community works, meetings and in
maintenance. 12 key informants were interviewed from the three supply
systems; they included WMC members, council workers and community
members. The interviews were much structured (open ended questions) because
of the complex nature of the topic. These questions were structured in such a
way that further questions can be raised from the responses of respondents in
the course of the interview so as to get more pert inent information. Most of the
interviews were done in pidgin (local language) and the respondents were
allowed to freely tel l their stories when certain issues were raised. Information
was collected by taking notes as well as taking photos. No recorders were used
because they were not available. The other 40 people interviewed were chosen
randomly.
3.1.3 Observations
In the course of the interviews, observations were made as well as during walk
in the village and along the catchment areas. Behavior of WMC members and
users during discussions were also observed and also during water harvesting
activities. Also the structures were observed for broken pipes and quality of
structures. From observations, more questions were raised for interviews which
led to more interesting and important information.
40
Picture 1: Abandon stand tap. No repairs because users did not contribute
required funds to repair it thus moving to other neighborhood to fetch water.
3.1.4 Group discussions
Organizing group discussions was not easy because of the period of research
which was festive season during which there were no meetings which I could
attend. But I tried to arrange a meeting with some key informants, as such I met
with two chair persons of different WMCs with one active community member
and the contact person I had. It was interesting when this led to open critique
with each one talking in favor of his committee. This gave me new inside on
some conflicting issues.
3.2 Assessment of the current situation
The aim of the field work was:
- To assess the institutional framework
- Interview the stakeholders
- Observe the structures and the supply systems
This was done in order to get in-depth information how this community manages
its water supply, the structures put in place for management and how effective
this has been.
41
Getting information was not easy because of time constraint to sample more
people and also because of unwillingness of some stakeholders to respond to me
either by not wanting to meet me or simple they don’t respond to me saying they
don’t have time, notwithstanding lack of documentation in most local offices to
provide me with concrete information. The field work was based on examining
the entire system from its initiation to realization as a base for possible
suggestions for future improvements. Frequently the interviews tended towards
discussions on possible operations and maintenance strategies which were often
interesting. Problems encountered during the interview occurred when a
community member and a WMC member come in discussion during the
interview. Then you could feel some tension as they don’t agree in everything. I
tried to avoid such situations but you never know until discussion gets intense.
This was not surprising for me because I know these people and everyone wants
his or her voice heard. I got big help from a key informant I was in contact with
who has been the chair person of one of the WMC for two terms thus highly
informed about the entire system. He directed me to the other key persons and to
some groups that were very active in the vil lage. Thus these were my target
groups and the rest of the people I interviewed were those I chose randomly
within the different communities. Due to the limited time I had there I must
have missed a lot of information which would have been very important for
proper understanding of the scheme.
The questions for interview were different for the different stakeholders. This
was aimed at getting the view point from different angles so as to get a broad
picture of the situation. The different stakeholders included; the government,
council, NGOs, WMC, Users and caretakers. The questions and discussions were
to assess the institutional framework, financial and information flow, level of
participation of community members and organization of the whole structure.
The government; questions and discussion with government inst itutions were
aimed at getting information concerning:
- Legal framework
42
- Policy goals
- Implementation
- Funding
- Technical issues
- Capacity building
- Staffs
- Management
- Power dynamics
The council; the council is highly involve in every activity within the area and
this includes the water management aspect as well . They represent the arm of
government in that area as such questions were focus on same issues as that of
government which include;
- Technical assistance
- Management
- Finance
- Role they play in water supply scheme
- Administrat ive responsibili ties
- Power dynamics
- Monitoring
- Evaluation
WMC; this was the most targeted stakeholder because of the role they play in
the management of the scheme. Questions were aimed at knowing:
- The role they play in management
- Who delegate them
- Management difficulties
- Financial issues
- Technical issues
- Coordination and information sharing
- Cooperation and compliance of community members
43
- External influence
- Level of participation
- Monitoring
- Conflicts
- Future improvements
NGOs; just two NGOs that have been involved in this area were contacted. One
local NGO and the other a consulting firm. Questions for the NGOs were to
know:
- Technical input
- Financial input
- Capacity building
- Monitoring
- Evaluation
User; they are the beneficiaries of the scheme. Questions and observations were
centered on:
- Level of participation
- Cooperation
- Commitment
- Decision making
- Consultat ion
- Monitoring
- Conflicts
- Future improvements
Caretaker; they are responsible for repairs of broken pipes and for cleaning the
tanks and catchment protection. Their questions were aimed at;
- Wages
- Conflicts
- Materials availabili ty
44
Picture 2: Catchment area.
3.3 Data collection
Data was collect from interviews, discussions and observations. Interviews were
not recorded. During interviews, I just got keys words and pertinent point and
wrote them on my jotter which I later transcript base on my understanding from
what interviewees were saying. Interviews and discussions were often narrations
of their stories and at the end of each session I just make a general summary and
link the main ideas together to get a broad perspective of the situation. I analyze
the information I got base on my understanding of the situation and on what
majority of the interviewees were saying especially the key informants because
they understand the situation better. For example a WMC member told me; “a
council member will come and try to instruct us on what to do and don’t even
want to listen to what we have to say”, in such a situation you could see
conflict, misunderstanding and lack of collaboration. My analyses always pave
way for further questions from which further data is obtained.
45
4 Research findings and Discussions
This section is divided into two parts; describing the Bambui water supply
management scheme and the second part discussing on findings.
4.1 Description of Bambui water supply management
Bambui has a lot of water potentials because it is a plain that is surrounded by
hills providing a good watershed for the area. The watershed area has many
rivers or streams that flows throughout the village/town as well as springs.
The water shed area is rich in biodiversity thus making the area a potential
source of natural resource whereby farmers, Fulani grazers, hunter, Government
as well as the entire community around the area and land owners are very
interested in the activities going on there. This has called for the creation of a
watershed management committee made up of the various stakeholders in other
to better manage this area and protected it from over exploitat ion from the
locals.
The Bambui water supply project was initiated by the Bambui Development
Association BACUDA in 1975. Together with the CDD the project became
effective in 1984 with the construction of catchment area, sedimentary tank,
slow sand filter and storage tank. In 1991 Helvetas change the sedimentary tank
to the up flow roughing filter. 1995 saw the extension of the pipe links to other
communities within the vil lage with help from international organizations like
African-American Development foundation among others.
A rural development group (Community Based Extension Init iat ive group
COBEX) was train to help protect the catchment area especially the key sources
of water supply. The water supply source is from streams and springs from the
watershed area up the hills where the tanks have been constructed.
After project has been put in place a WMC was then created to ensure
sustainabil ity of water supply. The committee was created through democratic
46
elections and members to go in for the WMC were active members in the
community who have been very involved in community works. Members of the
WMC are not paid, their work is voluntary. They just get small stipend for
motivation.
Elections usually takes place in the general assembly held once a year in
February where all the villages come and take part in planning and decision
making as well as elections of WMC members. The general assembly is
organized by the coordination committee which the supervisory organ of the
Bambui Water Authority (BAWA). The general assembly is chaired by
chairperson of the village council, i t is in the general assembly that water
policies are being developed and adopted, budget is being approved, recalcitrant
members are being expelled and decisions are being ratified.
The WMC mandate lasts for 3years after which another committee is elected.
This committee is responsible for smooth running of the water scheme through
maintenance and problem solving. This committee is being supervised by the
Tubah Council, donor agencies, local authority and Village Development
Association.
Technical assistance is being achieved from both local and international NGOs
where they come in and train the locals and WMCs as well as caretakers on how
to properly manage the scheme. Operations and maintenance is being handled by
WMC, where they hire caretakers and other staffs to take care of repairs and
other administrative duties. The community participates through contributions in
cash, kind and material , and highly involved in decision making during the
general assembly. The council acts as a supervisory body that monitors and
audit the WMC at the end of the year. Council also contributes financially once
every year for O&M and also gives technical assistance as well as advice to the
WMC.
There are four WMCs in this area; Bambui main, Atuniba management,
Ntanmbang management, and Finge management. Each committee is autonomous
47
in management and has its own supply system. Three are operational and one is
not; the Finge management. This is because it is still new and they don’t have
the necessary finance to go operational. A general overview of interactions of
whole mechanism is illustrated below.
Figure 2: A model of interactions for Bambui water supply
4.1.1 Roles and Responsibilities of the various stakeholders
The council
The Tubah council works in collaboration with the communities in managing
their water schemes within its area , this is done in accordance with Integrated
Water resource Management (IWRM) council law of 1974 Article 1 in Cameroon
constitution Article 55, and section 16 of law No. 2004/018 applicable to local
councils with regards of decentralization in Cameroon. Because of no
framework and guide that has been put at the regional, divisional and sub-
divisional level providing policies and strategies to help councils carry out their
48
activities, the Tubah council has formulated its own policy and strategy with the
full participation of affected and interested stakeholders which is being used as
an instrument for planning, implementing and monitoring projects with
collaboration of different partners. Such policies are being seen as guiding
principles for water resource management which are taken after process of
consultation and dialogue with partners on water supply schemes and
management for sustainability. This water policy and strategy together form
fraction of the governance cycle. The council being the arm of government
within the area has the power to bring defaulters to administrat ion and see that
they are being force to comply with the rules of the community as to what is
expected of them. Much financial support also comes from the council as the
councils have running budget given to them every year by the government. Also
council seeks funding from external organization to carry out projects within
their localit ies. So they help financially though very minimal in relation to the
financial constraints of the water systems. They provide technical assistance to
the MC and carry out annual audits of the WMCs as well as train WMCs and
caretakers. In general, the council makes sure that the overall management of
the system is ok by providing advice, coordinating meetings and making
contacts with potential donors to help facilitate the project.
The community
The community is the owner of the scheme. The community constitutes the user
to the resource and they take full responsibility in the management of the
scheme as they are involved at every level of the management. They participate
not just in financial and kind contributions, but they are also consulted in
decision making, policy implementation and dialogue on possible strategy for
improvements as they express their opinions during the general assembly
meetings. They provide materials needed for repairs and construction. They
report defaulters to administration and monitor WMCs and care takers, and
choose who they need to be in the WMC as they participate in the elections of
49
members of the WMC. Equity is highly respected when it comes to decision
making as women are highly involve and their voice heard.
WMC
The WMC are responsible for the operation and maintenance of the scheme.
They are elected by community members and they are those whom the
community trust and have been very active in the community. They handle
general matters in relation to the water supply scheme:
- They organize meetings for discussions concerning the state of the supply
scheme
- The provide services to community and educate the community
- They seek advice from other organizations to improve on their system to
meet the requests of the community
- They employ care takers and control their activities
- Organize fund raising activities and collection of levies for maintenance
- They report to the community
- They prepare annual budget
- They organize community works
- Make reports to different quarters
Members of WMC are expected to be honest and hard working, humble and
responsible, sacrificing and time conscious, l isten to others, tolerant, forgiving
etc. I discovered that some WMC members are dictators, others democratic,
some laissez-faire while some where very fatherly. So there is often tension in
the committee when these differences come to play.
50
Picture 3: Atunibah WMC office for consultat ion and payments of levy.
Elite
The elites are the initiators of the project and their aim was to see their
community have access to potable water. They are seen as an advisory body as
they always provide good advice on how to run the management and are being
consulted for policy and strategy formulation. They make voluntary financial
contributions in support to the development of the scheme and seek funds from
other organizations.
The village council
Also known as the traditional authority made up of the elders in the village led
by the Fon (king) of the village. They form an advisory body of the village and
are consulted for strategy and policy formation for the water system. They bring
defaulters to books for not complying with orders of the village such as not
paying their maintenance levies, not coming for community works and not
attending village meetings. They don’t just bring only the community members
to book but also WMC members as they also act like a supervisory organ in the
village.
The Government
The government provides an overall framework for policy formation and
provides financial support and encourages other actions to facilitate the
management and sustainabil ity of the water systems. They bring those who don’t
51
comply with policy to booking and organize training sessions to train locals on
managerial techniques to help them manage their systems.
NGOs and Donors
These organizations and institutions provide mostly technical and financial
assistance to the community to enhance them with the necessary skills and funds
needed to operate and manage their systems. Some of such organizations that
have been involved in Bambui includes: the community development department
in the ministry of agriculture, Genie Rural, Helvetas Cameroon, African-
American Development foundation (ADF), Catholica mission Bambui, PMUC
Cameroon, Capuchin fathers, Sisters of Christ , Caritas Anthoniana Podora Italy,
Fondazione Aiutarei bambini, Diocese of Portmort England amongst others.
Picture 4: A stand tap carrying name of donor.
From the above assessment of the various stakeholders, those that have
influenced on the project, whose roles are very important and whose impact is
direct on the project could easily be sort out after interviews with the
stakeholders. This assessment was made base on their responsibility on decision
making, agreement and position of responsibility which they hold, how
influential they have been in the realization and management of the project, and
their continues role in the success of the scheme. This assessment is represent in
the Venn diagram below with those highly involve closer to the center and are
52
more involved in the management of the system, and as we move further away
from the center the less the responsibility in management.
Figure 3: Stakeholder representation in management of Bambui
Water supply.
4.1.2 Operation and Maintenance (O&M)
The WMC is responsible for the O&M with assistance from the community as
they pay their installation and maintenance levies, as well as contribute free
labor and material when needed. They hire a care taker who monitors and takes
care of the structures to ensure it is in good condition and functions as intended.
53
On like members of the WMC that are not being paid; they do voluntary service,
the care taker is being paid monthly to ensure that he does his job. Moving
around the vil lage I could see abandoned stand taps and when asking the
caretaker he told me they have not provided funds to repair i t and when I asked
the WMC they said villagers are not paying their maintenance levies for such
repairs to take place, as such the two part ies must work together for O&M to be
possible. O&M has a lot to do with finance as the technical personnel needed to
take care of the structures need to be paid and spare parts bought. As such when
it comes to O&M, the WMC needs office running cost( cash books, receipt
booklets, bank books and record books, correspondence files, visitor book etc) ,
money to buy spare parts, payment of technicians as well as extension and
rehabilitation. Users pay annual levies for special projects, for private
connections and for water use to the WMC or to the vil lage development
associations (VDA). This money is intended for payment of caretakers, repairs
and replacement of parts, for new constructions and rehabil itation. Money for
O&M also comes from the traditional council , the Tubah council, the eli tes, the
government and other donor agencies. The community is responsible for
cleaning around the stand taps, using the structure with care to avoid damage
and monitor the entire structure to ensure and report to the WMC in case of any
damage for repairs. They also monitor the WMC on how they carry out their
duties and how effective they are.
Another important aspect of O&M is communication and how information is
being shared. Lack of communication between WMC and caretakers and users is
highly affecting the smooth running of the system. Though certain means have
been established to facili tate communication within community such as public
announcements in markets, church, meeting and houses as well as radio
announcements, communication is still a very big problem in the village as to
whom this information should be channel to for immediate action to take place
54
Picture 5: key informant showing a tap that is bad and the kids cannot fetch
water.
4.1.3 Some of the main problems in the management of the scheme
There are a range of problems facing the management of the system which range
from uncoordinated activities by the WMCs, exploitation of some community
members, and reluctance by users to pay their levies. The management is just
intended on certain tasks particularly maintenance and not on a generalized
objective like having plans for the future and long term sustainabil ity. So many
problems were raised but I will just highlight the once I feel are the most
prominent which should be looked into if system has to function well . These
include:
Ø Irregular payment of care takers for their work done. This is a huge
problem because these are the people ensuring that the structures put in
place functions as intended and without them people cannot get access to
water in that area. In the Bambui Water Authority BAWA constitution, it
is stated that the care takers should be paid so as to motivate them do
their job well and on time.
Ø Another major problem is mobility of the care takers, moving around the
entire village to checks the stand taps and other infrastructure is a major
issue because of the size of the village. So the caretakers are not constant
monitoring the system and repairs may take a while.
55
Ø The management of the system is very much uncoordinated. Amongst the
three WMCs in the area just one could really show record of activities and
how it administers it duties.
Ø Another big issue was poor management of resources especially money as
there were complains of money uncounted for thus long term break down
of many systems and the management will only wait for external support
to fix the system.
Ø Several i llegal private connections were a major issue especially by elites
because of influence they have. Such irregulari ties were some of the
reasons why some villagers were reluctant to pay their annual levy
Ø Another issue raised was no policy or plans for water uses like irrigation
as many farmers are cropping using the potable water without paying any
extra fee and exploiting water that could be use by many people in the
village
Picture 6: Illegal use of potable water for cropping
Ø The issue of a fix payment rate is a problem especially in regards to those
having private connection because they pay the same irrespective of usage
Ø One most important issue raise was lack of sufficient education of the
community on sustainable use of water.
These are the major problems generally seen by the management and the other
institutions around. But after interviews with the various stakeholders and
56
personal observation I could further identify other problems that are highly
affecting the system. These include;
- the system is not functioning properly leading to regular water shortages and pollution
- some committee lack experience and thus difficult to manage system mainly because of lack of training
- another problem is poverty as some people are unable to contribute their maintenance levy
- no adequate technical assistance like in the past with many support agencies moving out of the area like Helvetas
- catchment protection program has stop because of lack of funds and roughing filter does not functions well due to too much silt
- caretakers are not well paid and payments are not very regular - heavy consumers don’t pay in relation to their consumption as committee
lack means to control consumers and monitor their consumption since no meter are installed
- distribution area is large and requires a trained manager to better manage the scheme
- water quality not tested, quali ty is based on speculations - several illegal private connections - insufficient education - poor management of resource
Institutional problems
Authority
Although there is a structural framework for the various institutions involve in
the management of the scheme within the locali ty, there is stil l problems arising
because of overlaps in institutional framework. One major issue here is power;
which institution has power to authorize certain changes or to give the final say.
This comes to play when the government through the local council wants to be
authoritative by gett ing involve in village matter and the village council on the
other hand tries to make it voice heard as the authority in the village. It is
accepted that the council audits the WMC to ensure efficiency and sustainability
as the council has the technical knowhow and can give advice to WMC. As such
this gives right to the council to check files of the WMC and question their
budget and activities but on the other hand the vil lage owns the project and they
57
take full responsibil ity of its management. A problem arise while I was there
where the council question the chair person of the Atuniba WMC about his
administration and how he dictates in his community and brought the Divisional
Officer(DO) to use his powers and bring the chair person to booking. But the
chair person was backed by the village council with the Fon as leader telling the
DO this is a community problem and will be solved in the community as the
project is owned by the community. Thus, there is always a clash between the
administrative authority and the local authority when it comes to the water
management scheme because of the bottom up approach in the management of
the scheme.
Lack of cooperation
There is l ittle cooperation amongst the local institutions because of pride and
distrust . The WMCs are finding it difficult to work together because some are
well established than others as such want to be authoritative and control the
other WMCs that need help from it. There’s little cooperation between the
council and WMCs, and community not fully cooperating with the WMC. As
such, there is misunderstanding, lack of information flow, lack of collaboration
and lot of distrust which makes it very difficult to carry out the management
successfully.
Lack of coordination
When going through the documents and files of the management of the water
supply of the WMC and the council in the village, you could see that see that
everything is well structured. But the results I got say in the field say otherwise.
Annual levies are not paid on time, most people no longer participate in
community works and there is no fixed plan for WMC to carry out its activities.
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4.2 Discussion
4.2.1 Participation as a goal and reality in Bambui
The newly conceptualized perspective of governments and donors in the early
80s changing the role they play involving the community and private sector in
taking a leading role in managing the water supply systems and treating water as
an economic good by paying for the services provided to them
(Kleemeier,2000), saw the emergence of a bottom up approach in management
of water supply. The Bambui water supply management is taking such a bottom
up management approach with management from the lowest level in the
community then going up to the hierarchy.
Part icipation has been highly recognized as a resourceful instrument in dealing
with social problems for long term benefits as it brings together community and
agencies to work hand in hand to enhance sustainabil ity (Osti,2004). This
requires involvement of the community or a group of people having problems in
taking part in the problem solving program as it is generally assumed that after
community members have put in their money, time and labor, they do feel a
sense of ownership and will easily put up with the management for
sustainabil ity (Osti,2004). The Bambui water project has been running for more
than two decades now and the community members have gained more experience
and they know the importance of participation and how efficient it is solving
their problems. They have a well established system put in place for all
community members to fully get involved in the management of the scheme.
Initially, they have been working together with Helvetas, providing them with
technical support and training them on how to better carry out their activities
with regards to managing the supply system. They established a WMC to
coordinate the activities and they have gotten to work together with local
government and other representatives (donors, VDAs, NGOs, contractors etc).
This saw the transfer of skills from Helvetas experts to the locals through
training and working together and after Helvetas left the people have been
59
running the system themselves with little technical help from council. Talking
with the villagers’ one could feel a sense of ownership among them as they
expressed their opinions and how they felt about the scheme. Definite
contributions are obligatory which include; cash, kind and material as these are
essential for the smooth running of the system and these people know it is their
obligation to contribute. Other contributions or participatory forms which are
indefinite include decision making and consultation at the general assembly
where the whole vil lage met once a year for policies and other matters to be
discussed and agreed upon, contract arrangement; which involved mostly top
leaders. Gender is highly respected as there is equality during the general
assembly where everyone’s voice is heard and everyone is al lowed to vote and
the WMC comprise of both men and women. Women are the once mostly
pushing behind most innovations as I was told because they are the ones
suffering in case of fai lure of the system. Their contributions have empowered
them over the years and the WMC is a representation of the local people though
not very effective as intended but the model is in place to ensure sustainability
and the same phenomena can be seen in most sub-Sahara African countries
(Jaglin, 2002).
Over the years the locals have been motivated to participate because they had
seen the immediate benefits of their contributions and failure has always had
direct effect on them, for example taps not flowing because of too much silt that
has block the roughing filters and so sand needs to be washed and expert needed
thus long term break down, fai lure to pay care taker for repairs makes him
reluctant to work etc. A study carried out by (Zooneveld,2001) in support of this
fact shows that participation works better when cit izens can see that they have
direct impact on the management and whose positive effect will be felt in their
daily lives. The Bambui community through the WMC has the responsibility to
repair, maintain, regulate usage, finance and organize i t management. It also has
the power to take decisions concerning the scheme and it has control over the
whole system. A chair person of the WMC stated as follow; “this is the village
property and not the state property so the divisional officer has no right to come
60
and try to dictate to us what to do”, this was in a scenario where the council
wanted to impose on the WMC and audit them when it was not yet time for
auditing. They said no to this and there was conflict and the council called the
DO hoping he can easily talk down the people. But the local village authority
(elders in the village lead by the Fon) had to stop the DO and backed the WMC
and order was respected. Even when discussing with the villagers you could see
how empowered they have become because of the effort they put in sustaining
the system, which also gives them the right to express their opinions.
Notwithstanding, they still need external help and the reason why they still work
in collaboration with the government through the local council, local base NGO
(Cobex), consultants like Animbom consulting and other agencies because they
still get financial, technical and material assistant from these institutions and to
an extend are depend on this partnership. In other words the Bambui community
manages its water supply with full participation of all its inhabitants, the local
government, the traditional council and other agencies and the role these
institutions play are defined. That is why the community does not tolerate
interference from the empowered institutions as they try to keep their system
working.
The Bambui water management scheme has been running smoothly because of
high involvement of the people. Participation as a goal has been a success as the
community has been managing the system now for over two decades. In spite of
difficulties that are often encountered in the management by community
members, the locals see this as the best approach in sustaining the continuous
supply of water to the village. They don’t want the Government to get involved
in the management proper because of too much bureaucracy and corruption of
government officers who will not react to the immediate call of the locals for
actions to be taken. All they expect from government is financial support, law
and policy implementations which are strong ingredients needed to better
manage the scheme.
61
Though participation is deemed necessary by the locals, not everyone actually
gets to participate as some feel reluctant to contribute for one reason or the
other. But there is set up to bring such recalcitrant people to justice and ask
them to pay fines and other measures taken as deemed by the local authority.
But generally speaking, the success of the management has been attributed to
majority of the vil lagers participating and it is assumed that if everyone in the
village can be committed and participates fully, then the management will run
smooth as intended with preventive, corrective and emergency maintenance put
in place.
4.2.2 Enabling Institutions
Enabling institutions constitute part of the stakeholders. They are also stake
holders because their commitment also intends to raise awareness, build up
understanding and supporting active participation in realizing the objectives of
the project (Jimu,2008). The enabling institutions in Bambui include the VDAs,
donor agencies, CDD, private sector (consultants, NGOs) and the community
itself. These institutions take part in different and harmonizing responsibilities
which include facilitating, funding, managing, constructing, capacity building as
well as paying for services and water.
The action of the CDD for the past two decades in Cameroon has been based
principally on a self-help policy and a multi-stakeholder approach
(Helvetas,2004-2006). In this regards the various stakeholders have different
roles to play as discussed above. This has seen them participating at different
levels in the management of the supply system. Their services can be seen as
different levels which include:
- Community level: this includes the households and individuals who
contribute cash and labor on regular basis for O&M. Here you also have
the WMC elected by the households and individuals that manages the
water supply systems.
62
- The council level: i t is the closest arm of government to the community
that provides basic service to the community including financial and
technical support.
- Divisional level: they are in charge of legal aspect led by the DO that
assist in disputes and other matters that require enforcement.
- Regional level : they provide different departments and services to rural
water supply to ensure water quality, they carry out surveys, oversee
work, support catchment protection programs, advice, set priorities in
rural water supplies. They also provide technical advice to local councils,
implement council laws, educate and train councilors.
- NGOs and private sector: private contractors have been highly involved
in supplying parts and constructing structures in the extension of the
Bambui scheme. Local base NGO COBEX has been involve in the
catchment protection program. Helvetas and other international NGOs
have been very instrumental as the engage in capacity building acting as
facili tators and making financial donations in the realization of the
project.
One must say that it is through these collaborative actions that the Bambui water
supply has been running smoothly or without too much break down because of
these institutions putting their resources together. Looking at it from the part of
the community, one would be tempted to say these institutions have little role to
play but from a technical position, it is obvious that there is a chain of actions
that must take place for this system to be sustainable which range right from the
households in the community right up to the central government where policies
are made and implemented. As ignorant as some of the community members are,
they often say the system is running thanks to their effort (which is true to an
extent) because of the contributions they make but some of them fail to see the
contributions done by the council , donor agencies, and other actors. But those
that are actually enlightened knows the chain of actions taking place and what
comes in annually from donors and other organizations, as well as technical
support and they do appreciate these inputs because they know they can’t do
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without as one chair person of WMC told me; the financial contributions made
by villagers is very minimal because the bulk of the budget comes from external
source but yet they think it is their money that runs the entire system. Though
their contribution (financial) is very significant, it is not enough to run the
entire system so enabling institutions are very instrumental to the success of the
scheme.
4.2.3 Decentralization as a governance mechanism.
Decentralization in Cameroon started in the early 1990s when the government of
Cameroon was finding it difficult to run the affairs of the local areas from the
central system. This saw the transfer of power from the central administration to
the regional and local communities. This was as a result of the central
government not able to meet the needs and the interest of the local population,
so this was intended to strengthen decision making competence and increase
performance in the public sector by passing responsibilities to the private sector
and NGOs to increase participation to add to accountability, transparency and
effective delivery of services and good governance in the local areas
(Helvetas,2004). This has seen the creation of some local council in rural areas
with legal public authority, financial autonomy and a corporate body which
manages local affairs thus bringing the administration closer to the people and
is being supervised by the state (Helvetas,2004). The councils have
administrative jurisdiction that coincide with other units which include:
Subdivisions headed by the DOs, Divisions headed by the SDOs, and the Region
headed by a Governor.
The Tubah council through its administrative power coordinates the activities of
Bambui village to ensure that the social , economical and cultural development
of the people is achieved. With respect to the water supply in the area, the
contribution of the council is enormous as they have been engaging in varies
activities in decision making and policy implementation together with the locals
in the realization of the project . The mayor of the council is being elected by
the councilors whom were also elected by the local population thus both
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administrative decentralization and democratization are put in play as some
members of the council are appointed by the government like the stores
accountant, secretary general and the treasurer. The council together with the
community are the ones running the supply system and together they have
ensure continues flow of water within the community as the council deals with
the people directly and knows what is required for the people. The management
system of the Bambui project is bottom up and this is as a result of
decentralization as the management responsibility has been given to the locals
to coordinate themselves to take care of their system with help from private
sector and NGOs providing them with technical support through training and
capacity building.
4.2.4 Challenges for Sustainability
The gap between community ‘will ingness to manage’ and ‘capacity to manage’
is a major issue (IRC,2002). Communities are controlling and managing their
water supply because of inefficient management of government and private
agencies. Government organizations are usually short of resources and work on
meager budgets as such their ability to support and deliver their services is
often hindered (Davis et al,1993). In addition to this too much bureaucracy in
government administrat ion makes i t difficult for effective actions to be taken on
short term notice. On other hand, private agencies or community water manage
by a private individual who manages the system on contract either to make
profit or on paid basis which often creates high charges for community members
which can be difficult for all members to pay. In these situations the community
will want to manage its supply not just for the sense of ownership but also
because of reliabil ity and affordability and this has been the driving force for
the Bambui people; to have continues supply of potable water.
But the question is do they have the capacity to do so? Their supply has been
running for long now but st ill with lots of difficulties and break downs. For
65
supply to be smooth and sustainable there is need for training, capacity building
for proper decision making, finance and other support mechanism put in place.
Many implementing agencies often see community management as a way of
increasing the life time of the system (IRC,2002), but the success of the scheme
often depend on the technical and financial means available. Accountabil ity has
been a big issue in the management because of lack of documentation though it
is highly emphasized that this be done, but lack of follow up and because it is
often run by elders so people often don’t question them. Another issue too is
transparency which is lacking as well. Jaglin (2002) is in support of this fact
and points out that this is because of lack of account books, differences among
users, management practices of most WMCs and the seizing of responsibil ity by
elders which then jeopardize the whole scheme. Meaning that even if
communities are willing to manage water within their community, do they have
the available means? Can they live up to expectation without expecting external
help? This has been some of the challenges faced by the Bambui community.
The financial capacity is lacking as well as technical aspect as those trained
often move to the big city with time to search for better jobs thus leaving gaps
to be filled. Reason which there is always called for help from council ,
government, donors and private sector to provide technical and financial
assistant to support the management. Another big issue is involving the various
stakeholders, to make them corporate because of their various responsibilities.
Jaglin (2002) points out that dividing responsibility among an increasing group
of people makes the service to be rendered very complex. This has been seen in
most African cities with constant change of roles, insufficient framework and
difference heights of legality. Thus the players need to work together in a more
comprehensive approach for sustainability of the scheme to be attained.
4.2.5 Ways forward
The Bambui water supply system has al l the necessary setup put in place for
management of its scheme but nevertheless, it still has a lot of issues to deal
with because the essential components are not well establish. It has been
66
generally accepted in most sub-Saharan African countries that community
management means community has a major role to play in the management of its
water supply, own the system and have full responsibility for its O&M (Harvey
and Reed,2006). But yet many of such systems have failed in sub-Saharan
African countries with a 35% of rural water schemes not functioning
(Baumann,2005). Some of the reasons for such failures include lack of
acceptability and affordability among community members, lack of education,
little demand and lack of perceived ownership (Harvey and Reed,2006). But in
spite such difficulties, the Bambui community are still bend on managing their
system themselves because they know they are more reliable than government or
any other agency because it is of their immediate interest and mistrust of these
institutions because of pass experience. They rather prefer these institutions to
participate at a certain level and leave the rest to them. All they want is little
assistance from government and agencies because of lack of commitment of
these institutions. For sustainability to be at tained there is need to improve on
the present management by educating the people on various management
techniques as well as on decision making and also constant training of
community members to ensure persons are always present to repair and do other
technical duties as required by the system. The transfer of skills is highly
required for sustainability of community management and for the entire scheme
and notwithstanding the willingness of the community members to contribute
financially.
67
5 Conclusion and recommendations
The Bambui water supply is being managed by BAWA which is a highly
recognize organization that has legal right to take care of the system. Members
of the organization are being elected meaning they are representing the
community and are people whom the community trust and believe they can do a
good job. These people are being given the responsibility because they are the
most suited to do the job in the community taking into consideration their
commitment to the community, personal skills , experience and relationship with
the community members.
The community is very much involved in decision making but is not well inform
about decision making because most of their decision making was surrounded
around emergency repair and not much on preventive and corrective measures.
The community needs to be sufficiently informed to build on their decision
making capabil ity of the community members.
Management tasks are given to people who have some experience and have
worked with other organizations/NGOs, also to those that have had some
training in the task given to them. This is to ensure that these tasks are handled
as required to enhance sustainability of the system.
Conflicts are being dealt with by the local authority lead by the Fon (traditional
ruler) to who conflicts are being reported and he calls the parties involve and
look at the matter amicably. Also the local government led by the DO also looks
into conflicts and try to solve the matter through legal means. There is little
clash of power between these two authorities, but mutual respect and legal rules
always keeps the situation solved.
The current system has been functioning for a long time now with too many ups
and downs; I doubt the sustainability of the system given the poor managerial
mechanism put in place as the system barely tries to meet up with supply. But
notwithstanding, it continues to functions under difficult situations with lots of
break downs and mismanagement.
68
To conclude, one could say the system has all the ingredients it need to succeed
and be sustainable but much effort is required to make this work. This imply
stakeholder is highly represented but level of involvement is insufficient , power
dynamics is strong and manage by already empowered bodies (both local and
government authorit ies). Participation in reality has been the key element in
facili tat ing the Bambui water management scheme.
Recommendation
Working on decision making capability
For sustainability to be attained, the activities of the system have to focus on
durability. This can be enhanced through capacity building to provide the people
with knowledge required to make good decisions on long term perspective. This
will also provide a good platform for O&M activities to be better developed to
facili tate management.
Sensitization activities are highly needed to inform the people of the
implications of their decisions and activit ies.
A long term information operation needs to be put in place to keep the
communication alive within the village.
Increase willingness to pay
WMC should work hard to keep the system functioning, this can be motivation
for people to pay their levies without complains.
WMC has prove accountabil ity, show stable communication of it activities and
get community members involve in its activities to establish a relationship of
trust within the community. This will bring the community members close with
the WMC and working together will create mutual understanding through
collective activities which can make collection of fees and O&M much easier.
69
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7 APPENDICES
1 Administrative Organization of Cameroon.
Headed by the Prime minister
Lead by Governors
Lead by Senior Divisional Officers
Lead by Divisional Officers
And villages by Mayors with supervision by D.O
Central administration
Regions (north west
region
Divisions (mezam
division)
Sub division ( Tubah)
Villages Bambui
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2
Map of Africa showing location of Cameroon
Figure 1 : Source; Strasser, 2000
Map of Cameroon showing neighboring countries
Figure 2: Source; http://athaia.org/cameroon-map.html
75
3 Lists of some key persons
interviewed
Mr Peter Taba of Tubah council
Mr Lumuba Mokom of Animbom
consulting and former Helvetas
worker.
Mr Romanus of Cobex Bambui
Mr Fornimoh chair person of
Atunibah WMC
Mr Formaka Mathias chairperson of
Bambui main WMC
Mr Atia Gideon chairperson of
Ntabang WMC
Mr Jerome Coordinator of Bambui
water authority
Mr Kum Syvester Beng PEMSAHR
Camerron
Mrs Fru Women representative
Bambui
Secretary Atunibah WMC
Others
Delegate community development
department Bamenda
Delegate regional service of rural
engineers and improvement of life in
rural areas
4 Interview guideline questions
Questions for council.
- Why establish a water
management committee?
- Why does is it made of just the
locals?
- How was it form? Elections?
- Any preferences for some
members or al l were elected?
- Who were involved in the
elections?
- Was it a democratic election?
- What was the role of the
council in the election?
- What are the duties of the
WMC?
- So far what has been the
performance of the committee?
- Any complaints from the
locals?
- For how long do the
committees last? Are members
replaced?
- What is your duty in relation
to the water management?
76
- Why can the council not
management the water supply?
- Does council provide
assistance to the committee?
What kind of assistance?
- Are the committee members
paid?
- Are you happy with the
situation in general?
Questions for chairman WMC
- How many members are there
in the WMC?
- Who are they and what are
their roles?
- What about their age and sex?
- How did they get into the
committee? Elections?
- Who elected them? Friends,
family… what was the
cri teria?
- Are you paid for the work you
do or i t is voluntary?
- Are the other members paid?
- Do conflicts always arise
within members/locals? Why?
- How do you access
performance of members?
- What are some of the
difficulties you faze?
- Do you always get help from
council or any external body?
What kind of help?
- Are you happy with the
situation?
Questions for government
(divisional officer)
- What do you think of the water
supply situation of your
community?
- What is the role of the
government in this?
- What about the WMC, any
complaints?
- What was your role in the
establishment of this
committee?
- Did you appoint/nominate
some members?
- Can you replace a member in
the committee?
- Is there any mechanism put in
place by the government for
monitoring the system?
- Are you happy with the
situation?
Question for NGO
- Is the WMC doing a good job?
- Are all members capable?
77
- Were you involved in
selection/election of members?
- What were the criteria for
selecting/electing members in
your opinion?
- Was the community fully
engaged?
- Any influence from the local
authorities?
- Any loop holes in the
committee?
- Are you happy with their
current level of operations?
Questions for locals
- Are you happy with current
water supply? - Do you know how management
is handled?
- Do you know how the WMC
was form?
- Did you take part in
establishment of this
committee?
- Who did you vote for? Why/
why not?
- Was your choice out of
influence?
- Were there any irregularities
during the establishment of
this committee?
- Is the committee doing a good
job?
- Are all members competent?
- Should management be given
to council or should it stay
with community?
- Are you happy with current
situation?
- Are women allowed to vote?
Questions to other committee
members
- How did you find yourself in
the WMC?
- Did you campaign or
something?
- What are some of the
difficulties you encounter?
- Any conflicts among
members/locals?
- What is your role in
committee?
- Is there cooperation among
you?
- Any influence from external
body?
- Any help?
- Pressure from locals?
- Are you satisfy with current
situation?
78
Perceptions about water supply situation
• How is water used in the
village? • Do you know the sources of
your water in the village? • What is the reliabili ty of
the supplies, especially now during the dry season?
• Do you feel need to improve the water supply?
• How does this need to improve the supply vary across the village?
• Is there any agreement/arrangement for proper use of water sources?
• How are the measures carried out? By whom?
• Have experiences been good or bad?
• Is there any legal framework which permits community participation?
• Should the management be handed over to the government or should stay with the community?
Level of community interest and
participation in water supply and
management
• Do you f ind it necessary to
participate for the water supply
and management?
• How do you contribute yourself?
• Do you also take part in the planning and maintenance?
• Do problems arise when people are asked to participate? What kind of problems if any?
• How money is raised for operations and maintenance?
• Is there transparency/accountabili ty in the management?
• Is the community consulted for sites where public taps should be placed?
• Do women have a say in village affairs in general? In water management decisions?
• Do men feel women should be involved?
• Do women feel men should be involved?
• Have you been involved in any training program in management of the water scheme?
• How is information share on management issue?
Future • What is your vision for the
future with regards to water supply in the situation? • What could be done to
improve the present situation?
• Who has the most authority/power to bring about changes?
• Are care takers doing a good job?
79
• In your opinion what is lacking in the management?
• Feel satisfied with supply for far?
• What needs to be improved?
